Why I Hate ''Putting Your Hoof Down''
Hey, I'm revisiting this episode. Why? Well, I guess there's no point in hiding it, I watched Digi's video. He doesn't know where the haters are coming from. And rewatching my review on it, I thought that I'd add a few insights with clarity. Now do I still think that my review is good? Um... I think that it was too abrasive. It's not that I don't hate the episode as much as I let on, because I do. But, I've gotten new insights into the writing process behind the episode. And keep in mind that I found out the writing process not only after I made my review, but after I'd made my screw-ups video. Around the time that Charlotte Fullerton was writing this episode, her husband died. And so she passed it on Merriweather Willaims. So, it's understandable that this episode is disjointed and mean. It would actually be harder to understand if it was good, but it's not a good episode. That being said, I still hate this episode. And there are only three episodes of FiM that I legitimately hate. # Dragon Quest: For insulting the very message of the show due to lack of oversight # Rainbow Falls: Has no thought of effort or coherence, and the worst written episode of the show. # Putting Your Hoof Down: let's talk about it. What do most people think my problem with the episode is? Fluttershy being out of character. That's like half of one of my issues, but no that's not why I hate it. If that was the case I'd have to hate Lesson Zero too for how Twilight was out of character. The narrative does explain that she shouldn't be acting like that... sort of. I'll explain. But let's go over my main gripes with the episode. My main gripes are: the story; the tone; the moral; and the characterization. So, let's go over them, one by one. And we're not going to curse. We're going to calmly explain each and every problem with the episode. The Story Is it the worst story that the show has told? No, Rainbow Falls is going to hold that title for a good long time. But it's still an incompetent story. The most obvious problem is that there is a lot of padding. The start of the episode repeatedly shows Ponyville being a dick to Fluttershy and the second half of the story shows Fluttershy being a dick to everyone else. Also, with stories we need to on some level, justify characters' actions. A bunch of ponies abuse Fluttershy. Is there a reason for this? Fluttershy's not abrasive enough. Oh, I see; it's Fluttershy's fault. Do they ever get comeuppance for their actions? Nope. Instead, Fluttershy uses her assertiveness on other ponies, only about one of which actually deserved it. Seriously. And I'm not talking about the guy who was over-watering Fluttershy's lawn. I'm talking about the one who cut her in line. See, in a better constructed story; this would be Fluttershy standing up for herself (repeatedly) -> Fluttershy getting revenge -> Fluttershy punishing ponies for simple mistakes -> Fluttershy punishing those trying to calm her down. My biggest problem with the story is the end though. Fluttershy insults her friends, she's tied up, and then she automatically knows how to restrain herself. She learned all of this in her house, while tied up, and traumatized of what she's done. It doesn't exactly work that way. There's more to it than just that. (According to this episode) Who's fault is it that Fluttershy is getting pushed around by everyone? It's Fluttershy's. She's not assertive and can't stand up for herself. She deserves this abuse because she can't stand up for herself. Who's fault is it that Fluttershy can't control herself? Iron Will, he gave her bad advice (that somewhat did what it was supposed to do) Who takes the blame for everyone that Fluttershy hurt? Um.... the episode forgot about that. The story doesn't know who's to blame for anything, so it takes the easy way out and just blames the teacher. We'll talk more about that when we get to the moral. Also, Fluttershy has wings. She can fly over the garbage. The Tone I can understand people liking this episode for it's more mean-spirited tones, because it is a deviation from the usual. But honestly, it's just unpleasant to watch. For every person that likes this episode for it's deviation from the norm, there's another person who watches this show for it's deviation from the norm. Either way, it's incredibly jarring. The second most mean-spirited episode was The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy, and that's just because of its Pinkie subplot. But what really bugs me about the tone? It doesn't feel earned. Helga on the Couch was a very mean-spirited episode of Hey Arnold! That delved into themes of childhood neglect, and The Mask was a very mean-spirited episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog dealing with things like abuse and domestic violence. They knew what they wanted to do with it, but most importantly: their tones didn't come out of nowhere. Helga's parents were always assholes and Courage was always dealing with monsters. Even if the previous episode didn't contain The Smile Song, the whole show is incredibly optimistic and upbeat... sometimes to a fault. The Moral "Sometimes it can be hard for a shy pony like me to stand up for myself, and when I first tried it, I didn't like the pony I became. But I've learned that standing up for yourself isn't the same as changing who you are. Now I know how to put my hoof down without being unpleasant or mean." There's what the episode is trying to teach. Once again, it's kind of blaming Fluttershy for being a push-over. But besides that. It shows what she was like when she changed, and showed what she was like when she had some restraint, but there was no transition between the two. Also, the episode places the blame on Iron Will. So... when someone sells you a gun and you go on a shooting spree, it's their fault. I mean, if they didn't teach you proper safety protocols, they deserve some blame; but not the entire blame. For the most part, Fluttershy was abusing innocents, and we're supposed to pretend that that either didn't happen, or that that was justified. How would it have been better? Normally the way this works is that the push-over learns how to be aggressive, and then over time they learn that their aggressive behavior is pushing everyone away as people are scared by the very sight of them. So, Fluttershy could have done that, confronted Iron Will, and there she could have learned that his techniques were scaring his goat minions and realized exactly what she did wrong. And I really don't like that Rarity and Pinkie seem to be totally unaffected by what Fluttershy did. Even if they don't think that it was Fluttershy's fault, it should have had some effect. Alright, they think that Iron Will did it. Why aren't they more scared/angry at him? After all, he turned Fluttershy into a monster. It's a major failure in execution. Anything's better than Rarity just saying that there's a way to be assertive without being unpleasant and Fluttershy suddenly knowing it by the way. The Characterizion "Fluttershy's out of character" "No shit, that's the point of the episode, hardy hardy har" Fluttershy is "out of character," but considering that that's the hardest to explain, I'll talk about her last. Because she's not the only one. First the minor ones: Angel Bunny: Yeah, even a spoiled child wouldn't do... that. Pinkie: Cheering up my friends is what Pinkie's here to do! {scams the store vendor} But there are two major characters that are "out of character" here: Fluttershy and Ponyville itself. "Objection! How can a town be out of character!?" Well, we can go from a town that's closely knit where everyone looks out for each other to a city of assholes. I mean, I've gotten the impression from previous episodes A Friend in Deed, Winter Wrap Up, and Bridle Gossip that Ponyville is a small town where everypony knows everypony. But let's talk about Fluttershy. Here's something you've got to realize. It is the one golden rule for intentionally writing characters "out of character." Nothing comes from Nowhere Why was Fluttershy attacking random ponies, up to and including her friends? Iron Will gave her bad advice. Why was Twilight going crazy? She was failing an assignment for the first time ever. Why did Fluttershy insult her friends' reason for living....? Iron Will gave her bad advice...? That explains why she'd use those words, but it didn't explain where those words came from. Like I said, there are only two real options. She either wanted to tell the truth, or she wanted to lie. If she was telling the truth and really thought those things, then we've got other problems. (either way, some clarity would be very nice) If she was lying, why didn't she apologize? (Also how, did she come up with that on the spot) "I'm sorry I took the whole assertiveness thing too far" That could refer to anything. "I didn't really mean any of those terrible things I've said!" When a character does something like that, they need to be more specific. If having one of your best friends' saying that your life calling is worthless actually emotionally affected Rarity and Pinkie for more than five seconds then this apology would feel more earned. If you do something like that, chances are that your friends won't blame a third party due to bad writing. Whether the moment is truth or lie, it's incredibly hard to watch. And having the episode just glance over it is incredibly insulting. If you're going to do something like that, it needs to be a focal point. So, here's what I see. One more thing. I love it how her reflection is what sets her straight, not her friends' tears. That's just great. --->The opening sets an uncharacteristically mean-spirited tone for this show. --->Too many examples of Fluttershy being pushed around --->Bad advice that doesn't even seem to be told. --->Fluttershy abusing new assholes that the plot just shoves into the episode --->Old assholes never make another appearance --->After attacking only three ponies, Fluttershy is stuck in rage mode (that's all it took?) --->Rarity and Pinkie try to stand up to Fluttershy --->Fluttershy either tells the most vile truth or most vile lie she could come up with, that looks incredibly scarring. --->Fluttershy looks at a reflection and realizes what she's become (see Rule of Dumb for a better take on this) --->Rarity and Pinkie forget about this. --->Fluttershy has Angel tie herself up because she's afraid of herself. --->Rarity and Pinkie come to Fluttershy at full mental health and blame Iron Will. (Fluttershy's still tied up) --->Iron Will comes by to collect his payment. He taught Fluttershy to be more assertive, which he actually did. He simply didn't teach her restraint, which was not a part of the deal. --->The worst thing that Pinkie calls Iron Will is a "Creep" for perverting her best friend" --->Fluttershy suddenly knows how to stand up for herself. So, no my problem is not "Fluttershy's out of character." That's like saying my problem with The Splinter is Squidward bashing his head in with a cash register at the end. Category:Miscellaneous